Mednow Inc (TSX-V:MNOW, OTCQB:MDNWF), a healthcare technology company, has posted fiscal first-quarter results that saw its revenue jump 1,277.6% year-over-year as it builds its digital pharmacies and interdisciplinary model of care across Canada.
For the period ended October 31, 2021, the Toronto-based company, which provides virtual pharmacy and telemedicine services, as well as doctor home visits, reported revenue of $570,343, compared to $41,400 in the fiscal first quarter of 2020.
The company noted that the firm’s fiscal 1Q, 2022 revenue increased “over 4.5x quarter-over-quarter, and more than 13.5x year-over-year”. The growth follows the firm’s launch of Mednow Virtual Care in September 2021. The virtual care and telemedicine services platform, facilitated through the Mednow web and mobile application, is currently available in Ontario and will expand its coverage to serve patients across Canada in 2022, said Mednow.
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In other operational milestones, the firm said it continues to target large institutional contracts through its Mednow For Business division (MFB). The company said MFB has been “successfully executing with current broker channel partners and has received commitments from individual plan sponsors and companies to retain Mednow as their preferred pharmacy to support their employees”.
In September this year, Mednow received regulatory approvals from the Nova Scotia College of Pharmacists and opened for business under the trade name Mednow Pharmacy. The pharmacy services the province of Nova Scotia and can fill orders from walk-in patients as well as online orders. Mednow Pharmacy provides same-day delivery services to Halifax and surrounding areas.
Mednow had a net and comprehensive loss of $4.44 million during the quarter as it substantially grew its technological and logistical infrastructure.
“I am extremely proud of our achievements just nine months into becoming a public company, and our growth trajectory is on track as we continue to build out our digital pharmacies and interdisciplinary model of care across Canada,” Mednow CEO Karim Nassar said in a statement.
“To date, we currently service more than half of the population of Canada and expect to achieve nationwide status by the first half of calendar 2022. We have continued our rapid expansion, with growth through the launch of our digital pharmacies and telemedicine services, the continuation of our efforts to increase patient acquisition en masse through our institutional business, Mednow for Business, and agreements to acquire two specialty pharmacies,” he added.
Nassar noted that the company has also struck partnerships with mental health and genetic testing companies and has an interest in the US market through its investment with Doko Medical Inc.
On November 24, 2021, Mednow told investors that it had closed a C$500,000 investment in Doko Medical for a foothold in the US telemedicine and pharmacy services market. The investment was made through a convertible debenture, for a 2.8% equity interest in the virtual healthcare provider at a C$17.5 million pre-money valuation.
Doko Medical is a virtual healthcare provider operating across 38 US states, with over 100 physicians and health care workers engaged over its platform, which specializes in urgent care, mental health and erectile dysfunction.
Mednow hiked its equity interest in Life Support Mental Health (LSMH) to 12.3% from 10.5% in October 2021, with a follow-on investment of C$250,000. During the quarter, LSMH entered a partnership with a major Canadian pharmacy chain, to provide its clients access to LSMH’s Mental Health Check, reinforcing Mednow’s position “that offering holistic services provides greater avenues to assist patients”.
“Mednow is in a favorable position to continue to grow and implement our strategic plan with plenty of runway, given our cash balance of approximately C$23 million and no debt on the balance sheet,” said Nassar.
During the next 12 months, Mednow said it is “on course to build and open retail pharmacies in the provinces of Manitoba, Alberta and Quebec, and expects to acquire a pharmacy based in Toronto”. Mednow said owning and operating these brick-and-mortar retail pharmacies in these provinces across Canada will allow it to develop “brand presence, serve walk-in patients as well as serve the majority of orders through home delivery of medications ordered via the web and mobile applications".
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